Communications is becoming increasingly important in today's society. One component of some modern telecommunications systems is a link processor that accumulates multiple SS7 links and provides or receives data from a switch. Such accumulated data may be stored in a buffer within the link processor. Often it is important to assess the congestion level of the buffer.
Several conventional techniques exist for categorizing the congestion of the buffer in a link processor. Three of these techniques are referred to as the National Technique with multiple congestion levels and multiple congestion priorities (hereinafter “Technique 1”), the National Technique with multiple congestion levels without congestion priority (hereinafter “Technique 2”), and the International Technique without congestion level (hereinafter “Technique 3”). All three techniques are described in the standard identified as ITU Q.704, which is incorporated herein by reference. According to Technique 1, which is used in national signaling networks, nine different thresholds including three abatement thresholds, three onset level thresholds, and three discard thresholds are utilized to determine the congestion level of the buffer. The congestion level is typically reported as: cXdY, where X is the level of congestion and Y is the discard level. Technique 2, also used in national signaling networks, uses two thresholds, one onset threshold and one abatement threshold, and, in general, provides three different congestion levels. According to Technique 2, the congestion level is incremented or decremented based on the usage of the buffer as compared to a previous usage of the buffer. Technique 3, which is commonly used in international signaling networks, simply classifies the level of congestion of the buffer in the link processor as congested and uncongested. These three congestion categorization techniques involve nine, two, and two thresholds, respectively. These thresholds are often user specified.
Conventionally, functionality for determining the congestion level of the buffer based upon the provided threshold levels and usage of the buffer is programmed at Level 2 of the SS7 protocol stack, which is often done in assembly, or in hardware implementation. Consequently, modifications to any existing congestion program are difficult and have to be applied to different types of implementation.